My MBP doesn't make it to one year...

Had a MacBook Aluminium in Feb 09...when it got to December 09 it started having kernel panics all the time. Reinstalled the OS at the request of Apple Care and this just didn't sort it. Was replaced by a MacBook Pro by CS. This is now about 9 months old and is starting to go the same way the other one did. In fact it's probably worse - already had 2 new batteries and a trackpad. Does anyone else think that the build quality is now sub-par? It crashes all the time (I have to force quit Safari pretty much a few times daily) and sometimes crashes the whole system and needs to be turned off at the power button.

I love my MBP when it works but I'm fed up of Apple always wanting to do a reinstall of the OS...why can't it just work for the year it's meant to...letalone the three years I'm hoping it does...?

Plenty of threads like this. In reality, your experience is exceptional. Most Mac users keep their machines for years without problems. My theory is that certain people have either bad Mac karma, or emit a Mac-killing EM field.

OP, one cannot generalize about "build quality" from an N of 2 out of million of units. Sorry for your experience. Hope the third time is the charm.

I've never experienced any such problem on my white macbook, MBA, or MBP. Sorry to hear you're getting the lemons. As long as they're under warranty, get them replaced. It may seem like a bit of a hassle, but it'll be worth it.

Had a MacBook Aluminium in Feb 09...when it got to December 09 it started having kernel panics all the time. Reinstalled the OS at the request of Apple Care and this just didn't sort it. Was replaced by a MacBook Pro by CS. This is now about 9 months old and is starting to go the same way the other one did.

Click to expand...

Tom, seems I have the same sort of luck. So far the oldest unibody that I have had is 18 months, now the old G3 MacBook is still going strong.

in the last 28 months I have had replaces 5 logic boards, 4 LCDs, 2 bottom cases, and many manny weird kernel panics. My friends and other family members have all experienced similar concerns.

Currently awaiting apple to decide what they are going to do about the audio concerns with the 09/10 MBPs.

if it happens to one machine, it's the machine. if the same thing keeps happening to different machines, it's YOU. everyone has a different definition for "normal operating environment," but something about the environment you're putting your computers in is causing this problem.

but since it's happening to you consistently but with different machinery, it's obviously Apple's fault for making substandard computers? i must be missing something here.

There is no way to say it without sounding rude, but as people are saying, the odds of what you are experiencing by chance is small, and more than likely, it is related to user error. It could be just crazy odds, but most likely it is not. I haven't seen any indication of overall quality decreasing, and if the quality was really falling, the MBP would not be more popular now than ever before, winning more reviews, best user ratings in years, etc.

If the computer is 'crashing', it is usually not a hardware issue but related to how you have everything configured, or what you do with the configured system.

MacRumors attracts a broad audience
of both consumers and professionals interested in
the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on
purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms.